Lionheart (HP universe FF) / (Marauders era)

Chapter 31. Not Guilty

The darkness had sucked me in for good, at least that's what it felt like. There was only darkness and pain, which seemed to last forever as I drowned into it. My body was numb, and my mind had no thought in it. Everything was silent, eerily making me wonder whether this was what happened after you died.

Because that was something that probably happened to me, for I have no other explanation for this. So is this how things are going to be from no one? I'm going to spend forever here, all alone.

"You are never alone."

And just like once before, in my dream, the darkness and coldness was replaced by bright light and warmness. Even though I hadn't heard that voice in a long time, there would never come a time I would forget it.

"Mom?"

I could sense a figure standing before me, which gave me the change to open my eyes for the first time. But this time there was not only one figure before my eyes...there were two. In front of me, stood my mother and my father, looking down at me with loving eyes.

"Dad?" I sobbed out and reached my hand towards them. They quickly came closer and took me into a hug I really did need after everything. I was finally able to feel vulnerable and safe at the same time, they were there...my parents were there...and I could feel them.

"Oh my darling," my father muttered, also seeming to be very emotional. I pulled away from their hug to look at them more closely. They looked like what I remember them looking on that fateful night, but instead of looking lifeless bodies, they were alive.

"I have missed you so much," I breather out and still held their hands.

"We have missed you so much...but you must know that we have always been there for you, standing by your side wherever you go," my mother beamed at me.

"But how is this possible-...the last time I saw you mom, was when I fell through the ice and-...I almost died...am I dead now?"

"No my dear, this is the same kind of a situation than back then," she began to explain. "This is the place we have learned to call The Between. It's a place where people nearing death can meet their loved ones one last time."

"But you are real aren't you?"

They both smiled at me. "Sweet girl, you live in a world full of magic...why wouldn't this be real?"

I smiled slightly, until my smile soon disappeared again, and I started to question the information that was shared to me. "What happened to me...what made me come here again?"

"You don't remember?"

"No I-...the last thing I can remember was that I was running away from Sirius for-" But I couldn't talk more for instantly I felt a sharp pain in my heart, making me remember what had happened during midnight on the New Year's Eve.

"You went thought something very painful but continued bravely. After your heart was broken, you escaped the situation back to the staircase, where you witnessed Death Eaters attack taking place. It was a total chaos...but even that didn't stop you from being brave," mother explained.

My father took my hand and squeezed it gently. "Your uncle came there to take you and bring you to the Dark Lord. He was ready to give the orders for one of his helpers to murder the Potters and your dear friend Lily...but you sensed his intentions and your powers soon took over. He, and many more around you, witnessed as your eyes glowed golden, when you stepped in front of the death curse. But rather than accepting the fate of the curse, you finally let yourself be taken over by the true power, and so you screamed at the curse....sending it right back where it came from."